The Great Equalizer and The Great Winner

For the first time in their history, the Portland Timbers have beaten a team from Liga MX in a competitive match.

This game didn’t start so hot. A back four of Kamal Miller, Zac McGraw, Dario Zuparic, and Eric Miller had a hard time adjusting to the game in the first 10 minutes. Leon’s breakthrough came in the 12th minute when Jhonder Cadiz won a header against McGraw and knocked it into the path of Alan Medina. Medina then fired a rocket into the back of the net. Portland spent the rest of the first half trying to find an equalizer and came mighty close in the 31st minute. Antony found space on the right and played a perfect ground cross for Jonathan Rodriguez, but Evander crashed the box OUT OF NOWHERE and put his attempt wide. Golden chance for the Timbers and it was the best opportunity they would create from open play during the entire game. However, there are other ways to score goals. After 99 straight corner kicks without a goal, McGraw finally scored from an Evander delivery in the 41st minute. Despite only taking 3 shots in the first half (compared to Leon’s 8), the game was tied when the halftime whistle blew. 

Cascadia FC's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

No subs entered the game for Portland in the second half, but Leon were trying to break the deadlock early. Maxime Crepeau was called into action several times from minute 45-55 as the Timbers tried to match the energy that they had when the first half ended. In the 58th minute, they almost found the go-ahead goal. A wonderful pass from Jonathan Rodriguez found Felipe Mora in a 1v1 situation in the box, but goalkeeper Alfonso Blanco made a wonderful point-blank save. Two more follow-up shots were blocked, and the game remained tied. In the 68th minute, Neville made a triple change. David Ayala, Santiago Moreno, and Claudio Bravo entered the game. From that point forward, the Timbers returned to the wonderful soccer that has brought them up the Western Conference table. But no goal came. Sure, there were close calls, but the game remained tied. Until Portland earned their third corner kick of the night. A beautiful cross left Evander’s foot, and McGraw’s head rose above everyone else’s to score a point-blank header in the 90th minute. The Timbers held on to the lead, and secured a historic win.

Quick refereeing notes: I’m not upset about the refereeing because I expected this. The yellow card to Eryk Williamson was dumbfounding and it was the worst call of the game. David Ayala made two incredibly good tackles and got called for a foul on each of them. When the bar is on the ground, my expectations for officiating will be too. No use getting into it any further. 

After Portland’s 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy last week, one thing was burning in my mind. The Galaxy scored one (OFFSIDE) goal from one of Portland’s corner kicks, and then the Timbers had several more of those opportunities late in the game to get an equalizer. They failed to do so. I asked Phil Neville about offensive corner kicks after the game. His answer was short: “They scored from one of our corner kicks, so you could say that it’s something we need to improve on.” 

So I ranted about offensive corner kicks in my recap article. I went on Stumptown Radio and ranted about offensive corner kicks even more. For an entire week, the Timbers’ continued failure to do ANYTHING on offensive corner kicks marinated in my head and slowly ground my cranial gears to pieces. There was an open training session on Friday. I hopped on the Yellow Line, went downtown, and hobbled 12 blocks with incredibly sore calf muscles to watch the Timbers practice their corner kick routines. When their next match came, those corner kicks won them the game. 

When Phil Neville began his press conference tonight, I only had one question on my mind. As I began my question, the head coach interrupted me: “Set play goal, yeah?”

After the brief but welcome interruption, Neville began his response.

“We had to commit fully to set plays and the high press. And I’ve never thought this season that we’ve been fully committed to scoring on set plays. There are three things on set plays that you need: a good deliverer. Well, there’s no excuse there because we’ve got one of the best. Then you need the runs and the movements and the commitment to go and score. There’s one ball going into the box and it’s whoever wants it the most. Tonight, you saw a center back that wanted it more than their players.”

This is the type of stuff that inspired me to begin covering this team. I have always been a big-picture type of person, and nothing is more big-picture than set pieces. It is a pure battle of commitment that the Timbers have continually failed to win for the majority of their MLS existence. Tonight, they had three corner kicks. They scored on two of them. Last week, their failure to come close on a single one of their corner kicks ended up being the difference between a loss and a draw. Those two corner kicks gave the Timbers a historic victory one week later. Prior to tonight, the Timbers had failed to score a goal on their previous 99 corner kicks, which is a stat that seems almost too perfect to be true. Now that the team has seen how important these situations are, they will only improve in this area of the game. My one-week crusade about offensive corner kicks is over. Time to find some other minute thing to obsess over.

Neville’s answer about the corner kicks has already given me the next object of my ire. The head coach wants his team to press high, but they aren’t always committed to it. This leads to gigantic gaps between the high line (pressing forwards) and the midfield. I spoke about it in my recap of the loss last weekend in LA, and it definitely rings true tonight. In order for the high press to be successful, the entire team has to commit. During multiple times in the first half, only a couple of Portland’s forwards were pressing. As a result, Leon was able to play the ball around Portland’s disorganized press and move the ball to the center of the field. This is very bad! Portland doesn’t always need to press, but the entire team has to commit to it when the timing is right. Otherwise, their backline gets put on the back foot and they will lose every single second ball in the midfield. That’s not a recipe for success. After the triple substitution in the 68th minute, Portland’s press was able to stabilize. More on that later, because there is one player who is absolutely key to the Timbers’ press and now is not the time to talk about him.

This is the perfect time to talk about Zac McGraw, tonight’s Man of the Match. McGraw’s performance echoed a theme of the 2024 Timbers: down, but never out. After failing to win the initial header against Cadiz that led to Leon’s opening goal, McGraw locked in. He was immense on both sides of the pitch, and he got a well-deserved brace. After scoring his first goal, he did the time-honored goal celebration of putting the ball under his shirt and sucking his thumb. His wife is pregnant, and he joined him on the pitch to lift his second log. McGraw’s 2024 has been characterized by horrific luck. First it was the concussion that led to a spell on the sidelines. He had to earn his starting role back and was at the center of some of the Timbers’ best defensive performances in early summer. Then he got clobbered against Minnesota and his face became “a complete mess.” For the second time this season, he lost his starting spot due to injury. Tonight was his first start since that gnarly wound against the Loons, and he won the game for his team. Outstanding work from a man who refuses to be beaten. Aside from the goals, I loved when he embraced the dark arts. He got away with a pull on Cadiz in the second half, and then helped execute one of my favorite things I’ve ever seen on a soccer pitch. Eric Miller sent a long throw towards McGraw, but he was standing on the endline. This forced several Leon players to swarm him and win the header. That header went out of bounds and resulted in a Timbers corner kick. Portland had three corner kicks tonight. That corner kick ended up being the only one they didn’t score a goal off of. This fucking sport, I tell you what.

The other player who refused to quit was Evander. That first half miss was absolutely dreadful, and I’ve never seen another player be as dumbfounded as Jonathan Rodriguez was in the immediate aftermath. 

But it was two perfect deliveries from Evander that won this game for the Timbers. He refused to let the dark arts get the better of him, and he grew into the game as time went on. Even on his quietest nights, he’s at the center of everything.

Rodriguez, on the other hand, tried his hardest to score a goal. But every single opposition player knew all of his tricks, so they were able to keep him relatively quiet. His golden chance was stolen from him by a sliding Brazilian who chose the worst possible time to make a box-crashing run. Sigh. 

Felipe Mora was superb tonight. His golden chance was denied by a wonderful save and his elite hold-up play set up a late free-kick for Portland. I’ve gushed about his finishing and his elite instincts, but the Timbers needed his first touch to be absolutely perfect tonight. And it was. 

Speaking of first touches, it’s time to talk about Antony! I think he was overmatched against the Liga MX defenders who could take away his speed and force him to beat them on the dribble. Sometimes Antony looks like the best dribbler on the team and other times he can’t control a simple pass. All of the tools are there. He’s a very talented soccer player. But that inconsistency with his first touch needs to be sorted out. Just more stuff for him to work on. I really enjoyed his hard work off the ball even if he wasn’t at his best when he got the ball back. He should’ve had an assist but Evander teleported in front of Rodriguez. Good shift from the Brazilian.

I feel really bad for Eryk Williamson. He had a very good game, but his defensive efforts got nerfed after receiving a mind-boggling yellow card in the 20th minute. This put a damper on an otherwise excellent night from the American midfielder. Neville stated that his substitution in the 68th minute was due to that yellow card. He didn’t want to take Williamson off the field, but with an unpredictable referee tough changes had to be made. 

That substitute turned out to be a masterstroke, because it brought David Ayala onto the pitch. Earlier, I spoke about the one player who is absolutely crucial to the Timbers’ press. Ayala is that guy. He’s more than that guy. He’s him. In all of his glory. He is the best midfielder on this team, and it isn’t even close. No one else on this team aside from Evander plays with the sheer audacity that the Argentine does. He will lay a crunching tackle and then pick his head up and play a perfect through ball like he did in the 84th minute. If he is healthy, he has to start. Since the Timbers have another game coming up in four days, I would love to see him start alongside Williamson in the double pivot. We haven’t been able to see what they could do together in the midfield, and it’s a perfect game to try it out. 

This would mean that Diego Chara is benched, and I think that a Chara benching needs to happen for the next game. The captain was uncharacteristically sloppy in the first half, and never seemed to recover after failing to control a simple pass in the 5th minute. He was a lot better in the second half, but he’s also 38 and shouldn’t be relied upon to shoulder the brunt of the midfield. Especially with David Ayala in such glittering form. 

Eric Miller made his first start since May 12th at his natural position of right back. However, it wasn’t entirely his natural position. Kamal Miller started at left back, so Eric was tasked with doing the Juan Mosquera role. Eric is not Juan Mosquera, but he did try hard to do it. I thought it was a solid game from him, but he picked up a yellow card and had to be subbed out. He was probably going to be subbed out anyway at some point, so I’m not too upset about it. I thought that Neville’s plan to leave some of Portland’s best players on the bench to use as super-subs ended up working out really well. However, in the coach’s words, “All of the starters deserved to start.” I agree with that assessment. This Timbers team doesn’t lack in quality depth, and Eric Miller is the poster boy for it.

Kamal Miller made his first start since his return from Copa America, and he played left back. He was good! He’s not the fastest, but he didn’t allow himself to get caught out of the play that often. I like how Neville has used him as a defensive left back at certain times this year. With so much depth at center back, and Kamal’s roots as a left back, it’s a logical choice.

Dario Zuparic fought like a warrior. He didn’t steal the headlines, but he has to be very happy with his center back partner. As of right now, he’s the most consistent center back on the team. I hope Neville doesn’t rest him for the Colorado game.

Mason Toye made his Timbers debut and impressed me with his work rate. He played primarily on the left instead of through the middle, but still put in a quality shift in a brief cameo. Can’t wait to see what else he has to offer.

Maxime Crepeau made his first start since Copa America, and he was whizzing around the box. Seriously, this man had a point to prove after a run of quality starts from his understudy James Pantemis. The Canadian flew from post to post, and I don’t blame him for Leon’s goal. It was a wonderful finish, and shots that can zoom like that are hard to stop. I could drone on about some minor moments, but I’m not going to snoop too much. That opening stretch of the second half showed him at his best. He’s a fearless goalkeeper and it’s good to see him back in the side.

The Timbers refuse to be beaten. The capitulations of previous seasons are firmly a thing of the past. Tonight, the Timbers turned their biggest weakness into their greatest equalizer and their greatest winner. That’s what great teams do.

A draw on Thursday against Colorado will secure a place in the knockout round for the Timbers. But a win would clinch the top spot in the group. After a historic win, the Timbers are in Leagues Cup with a vengeance. To steal the head coach’s words: “Entonces decimos ‘We’re going to win it.’” The quest continues. 

Cascadia FC's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.